News Feature | July 11, 2014

What Are Digital Signage Applications in Education?

MarketsandMarkets released a research report on the market for digital signage hardware, software, application, and products, forecasting that the total market is anticipated to grow to $14,876 million by 2020. This is an estimated CAGR of 8.94 percent from 2014 to 2020.

The Digital Signage Education also lists specific applications, including displays in an “athletic hall of fame,” stock tickers and display boards in mock trading rooms in a school’s finance lab, large format displays to communicate campus messages, way-finding signs, and recognition for donors or distinguished alumni.

In his coverage of InfoComm 2014, America’s largest audio-visual trade show, Daniel Pierce of eSchool News says three key developments of digital signage were apparent at the event. In his article, “Sign Of The Times? Digital Signage Gets Creative,” he says these developments are portability, flexibility, and “smart signage.”

Portability allows signage to be moved around a building or campus — setting it up for special events, for example, and then taking it down for use in other locations. With this feature, schools can get more use from their investment.

Flexibility of digital signage is enhanced by developments including smaller, narrower flat-screen panels with a 16-by-3 aspect ratio instead of 16-by-9. There are also projectors that create images on curved or irregular surfaces and transparent signage — LCD displays that let light through, so you can see objects behind them, which could make for interesting displays in schools or campuses.

“Smart signage,” which embeds the chipset for programming digital signage into the displays themselves, does not need a separate video player or server to run the signage. Smart displays can reduce the cost of deploying digital signage and also integrate social media.